Green-Wood Cemetery in the context of "Borough Park, Brooklyn"

Sunset Park is a neighborhood in the western part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Park Slope and Green-Wood Cemetery to the north, Borough Park to the east, Bay Ridge to the south, and New York Harbor to the west. The neighborhood is named for a public park of the same name that covers 24.5 acres (9.9 ha) between Fifth and Seventh Avenues from 41st to 44th Street. The area north of 36th Street is alternatively known as Greenwood Heights, while the section north of 20th Street is also called South Slope.

The area was initially occupied by the Canarsee band of Munsee-speaking Lenape until the first European settlement occurred in 1636. Through the late 19th century, Sunset Park was sparsely developed and was considered part of Bay Ridge or South Brooklyn. The arrival of elevated railways and the subway led to Sunset Park's development, with middle-class row houses and industrial buildings being erected in the 1890s through the 1920s. After the decline of the industrial hubs in the 1940s and 1950s, the name "Sunset Park" was given to the region north of 65th Street as part of an urban renewal initiative. Immigrant groups started moving to the neighborhood in the late 20th century due to its relative affordability. By the 21st century, the neighborhood's population is primarily composed of Scandinavian, Irish, Italian, Hispanics and Chinese immigrants along with swaths of predominantly white young urban professionals.

Eighth Avenue is a major street in Brooklyn, New York City. It is an ethnic enclave for Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans, who are one of the predominant ethnicities in the area among the current residents, which include new immigrant colonies, among them Chinese and Arabic-speaking peoples. Parts of it have been colloquially re-christened Little Hong Kong in recognition of these newer communities.

The avenue starts at its north at Grand Army Plaza, going through Park Slope for 1 mile (1.6 km). It is interrupted by the Green-Wood Cemetery between 20th and 39th Streets, and after traveling nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) further south through Sunset Park, finally ends at 73rd Street in Bay Ridge.

Greenwood Heights is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, named partially after the adjacent Green-Wood Cemetery by real estate developers. Greenwood Heights is a part of Brooklyn Community District 7 along with Windsor Terrace, Sunset Park and South Slope. The much-debated borders are roughly the Prospect Expressway to the north, Gowanus Canal and Upper New York Bay to the west, Eighth Avenue to the east, and 39th Street to the south (along the southern boundary of the Green-Wood Cemetery and northern boundary of the 36th-38th Street Yard and South Brooklyn Railway).

Greenwood Heights, originally considered to be located within South Brooklyn, was incorporated into Sunset Park in the 1960s. A separate designation for the neighborhood was created by the 1980s. Today, Greenwood Heights overlaps with both Sunset Park and South Slope.

A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that was popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-19th century due to overcrowding in and health concerns about urban graveyards, which tended to be churchyards. Rural cemeteries were typically built 1–5 mi (1.6–8.0 km) outside of the city, far enough to be separated from the city, but close enough for visitors. They often contain elaborate monuments, memorials, columbariums and mausoleums in a landscaped park-like setting.

The rural cemetery movement mirrored changing attitudes toward death in the nineteenth century. Images of hope and immortality were popular in rural cemeteries in contrast to the puritanical pessimism depicted in earlier cemeteries. Statues and memorials included depictions of angels and cherubs as well as botanical motifs such as ivy representing memory, oak leaves for immortality, poppies for sleep and acorns for life.